School-Organisation-Plan-2018-2020
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1 CONTENTS 1. Introduction 1.1 Purpose of the School Organisation Plan 3 2. The Northumberland Context 2.1 School Organisation link to standards and performance 4 in education in Northumberland 2.2 Headline school population data 4 2.3 Schools and academies 5 2.4 Number of pupils on roll in schools and academies 8 3. Duty to provide school places 3.1 Local Authority duties and powers 10 3.2 Challenges in delivering duties 10 3.3 Northumberland and National education policy 10 4. School Place Planning 4.1 Current methodology 12 4.2 Surplus Capacity 12 4.3 School Admissions 15 4.4 Home to School Transport 16 4.5 House building 16 4.6 Inter-partnership and inter-authority movement 17 5. Creating places through capital development 5.1 Principles 18 5.2 Funding 18 5.3 Methods 19 5.4 Partners 19 6. Non-mainstream provision 6.1 Special Educational Needs 20 6.2 Post-16 provision 21 6.3 Early Years provision 21 2 7. Projections and Place Pressures by School Partnership (planning area) 7.1 Alnwick Partnership 23 7.2 Ashington Partnerships (including NCEA) 25 7.3 Berwick Partnership 27 7.4 Bedlington Partnership 29 7.5 Blyth Partnerships (including Bede) 30 7.6 Coquet Partnership (Amble) 31 7.7 Cramlington Partnership 33 7.8 Haydon Bridge Partnership 35 7.9 Hexham Partnership 37 7.10 Morpeth Partnership 39 7.11 Ponteland Partnership 41 7.12 Prudhoe Partnership 43 7.13 Seaton Valley Partnership 44 Appendices Appendix 1 - Surplus Places in Northumberland by School Partnership 46 Appendix 2 - Education Infrastructure Contribution Policy 49 Appendix 3 - Capital Projects Data and Information Link 3 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 Purpose of the School Organisation Plan In its Corporate Plan for 2018/21, Northumberland County Council sets out its vision and values for the county. A key feature of this vision is the desire to ensure that children and young people achieve and realise their potential. At its most basic level, the School Organisation Plan for Northumberland supports this vision by demonstrating how the council will fulfil its statutory duty to provide sufficient school places for children and young people in Northumberland. However, the plan will also assist schools, parents and partners to understand how the availability of school places across the county are monitored, how the need for school places is identified and where necessary, how additional places are delivered and funded. There is a further challenge in Northumberland in that whilst as a county we have sufficient places, overall they are not necessarily in the areas of greatest demand. So whilst we have a shortfall in places in our urban more highly populated areas, we have significant surplus places in other areas. The School Organisation Plan covers the period 2018/21 in line with the Corporate Plan, but it will be refreshed on an annual basis to reflect updated statistical information and data, as well as any changed circumstances relating to school organisation. Subject to approval from Cabinet, the draft school organisation plan will be circulated to the following groups for information before publication in July 2018: ● All Northumberland schools ● Diocesan Education authorities ● Neighbouring local authorities ● Relevant healthcare authorities (Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust; NHS Northumberland CCG; Northumberland Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust) 4 2. THE NORTHUMBERLAND CONTEXT 2.1 School Organisation Plan links to standards and performance in education in Northumberland Responsibility for the School Organisation Plan lies with the School Organisation and Resources Team within Education and Skills, which in turn forms part of the Wellbeing and Community Health Service in Northumberland. The plan provides an analysis of the current capacity and numbers on roll in Northumberland schools and highlights the work planned to be undertaken to meet any identified need for additional places. As such, the School Organisation Plan supports the Education and Skills Service in delivering the priorities set out in its Service Statement 2018/19 by: ● providing data, information and context to support school organisation initiatives that are planned to have a direct and positive impact on standards and performance in schools; ● identifying and delivering capital projects to provide additional places or enhance the schools estate that will improve the educational experience of children and young people in Northumberland. The Education and Skills Service Statement for 2018/19 is available to review at http://www.northumberland.gov.uk/Education/Schools/Improvement.aspx. 2.2 Headline population data In Northumberland, 96.7% of the land mass is classed as rural, with just under half of the population living in this area. The other half of the population live mainly in the South East area of the county. In relation to the population itself, the county has an estimated population of 316,000 people in 2018, a relatively static figure since 2014. According to the Office for National Statistics, the county’s population is forecast to increase to around 322,000 by 2039, an increase of 1.2 % (6,000) over a 21 year time period; this contrasts with a forecasted 9.5% increase in the UK population between 2018 and 2041. However, the number of children and young people aged 0 to 15 living in Northumberland has been slowly but steadily declining for a significant number of years, with circa 57,500 in 2001, 55,000 in 2006 and 52,000 in 2016. The birth rate in Northumberland has also declined slightly by about 0.5% overall between 2007 and 2016, but there is variation at the school partnership level, which is addressed in Section 7, Projections and Place Pressures. 5 2.3 Schools and academies As of May 2018 there are 166 schools (not including independents) in Northumberland who currently educate 52,148 children and young people (Jan 2018 census - Nursery to Year 13). Categories of Schools Schools are classified into two main categories. The first category is academies, these are funded directly by central government, and where the local authority does not have any statutory responsibility. The other category is maintained schools, which are then further split into 4 sub-groups Community, Voluntary Aided (VA), Voluntary Controlled (VC) and Foundation schools. The local authority does have various levels of responsibilities, in relation to school organisation, funding and admission arrangements. Academies / Free Schools Northumberland currently has 31 academies; these schools get their funding direct from the government, not the local authority. They are run by an academy trust which employs the staff. Some academies have sponsors such as businesses, universities, other schools, faith groups or voluntary groups, and in Northumberland there are currently 10 sponsored academies, 20 converter academies, and 1 free school. We currently do not have any university technical colleges or studio schools. Maintained Schools Maintained schools are funded by the local authority. Whereas formally they are run (“maintained”) by the local authority, delegation of powers to the Governing Body means that they have many of the same responsibilities and powers as academies. These fall into four main categories: ● Community Schools Community Schools are controlled by the Local Authority and are not influenced by business or religious groups. There are 89 schools in this category in Northumberland. ● Voluntary Controlled Schools Most Voluntary Controlled Schools, but not all, are Church of England Schools; there are currently 11 schools in this category. ● Voluntary Aided Schools These are Foundation Schools with a Religious character and in Northumberland all are Church of England or Roman Catholic Schools. There are currently 31 schools in this category. 6 ● Foundation Schools These are Foundation Schools without a Religious character. Some Foundation Schools acquire a Trust and are known as Trust Schools. The Governing Body owns the building (unless there is a Trust in which case the Trust owns the building and land) and is the formal employer of the staff. There are currently 4 schools in Northumberland in this category. Numbers and types of Northumberland Schools (not inc. independents) Academy / Foundation Phase Community VA VC Free Total /Trust School First 36 16 6 1 6 65 Primary 30 13 5 2 8 58 Middle 8 2 0 1 7 18 High (inc All 4 0 0 0 3 7 Through) Secondary (inc 2 0 0 0 7 9 All Through) Special 8 0 0 0 0 8 Pupil Referral 1 0 0 0 0 1 Unit Total 89 31 11 4 31 166 Two schools included in the above table have been approved for closure at the end of the academic year 2017/18 and will close in August 2018; a decision on the proposed closure of a third school will be made in July 2018, also proposed to close in August 2018. Therefore it is expected that there will be 163 schools and academies in the county in September 2018. In Autumn 2014, there were 178 schools and academies in the county, 177 in Autumn 2015 and 175 in Autumn 2016. School closures have taken place in the county over the past four years as follows: 7 Schools Year/Date Reason for Closure Closure closed of Closure closure proposed by approved by St Cuthbert’s August Unviable due to Governing NCC RCVA First 2014 reducing pupil Body School, numbers Amble Guide Post August Poor Ofsted report NCC NCC Middle 2014 leading to School reorganisation of part of Bedlington Partnership to primary/secondary system. Bothal Middle August Reorganisation of Ashington NCC School 2015 Ashington Learning Partnership to Trust primary/secondary Hirst Park August